hello all,
I bought a gibson studio 50s tribute dark-back a while back.At first I was super excited playing it but something was off...I realised that the neck was quite sticky and was getting in the way of me playing smoothly.On top of that the body got a few dings from hits that shouldn't even affect the finsh.Comparing with my other les paul (epiphone standard) I found out that on my gibson les paul there wasn't any laquer coating(if you call it that).Went to a guitar store and the guy told me that it would cost me about 350 euros.Of course I don't want to give that kind of cash and I don't think that doing a 350euros work on a 700euros guitar is worth it.
So, first of all do you think that the amount of money is too much? (note that I live in Athens,Greece)
Could that work be done by me?Would it be hard and what kind of tools do I need?
If that work could be done by be, what kind of coating do I use and where do I get it from?
Could a poor done job affect my instrument in any other way than cosmetically(could it affect the sound of the guitar for example)?

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and I'll be thankful for any insight.
(sorry for my english, I'm not a native speaker...)

for that sticky feeling just mask off by the heel and up by the headstock and then get some 0000 steel wool and just lightly scuff the neck. it will make it satin feeling and since it is so fine it barely removes any finish.

I'd suggest NOT doing the steel wool thing, in the short run it might help, but what you're doing is making micro scratches in the surface to make it feel like satin. In the long run, you'll end up filling those micro scratches with dirt and sweat from your hands.

That's exactly what causes the stickiness in my experience, so you can see why I don't like that.

I believe that Dunlop makes a product to clean the paint/wood on guitars. Use that and if you still fell like it is sticky try to use a polisher/buffer to get the neck to feel soft as new. It's not like it hasn't got a clear coat on it, it's probably just a wood sealant, so it's not like it's the bare wood.

You only do the steel wool thing to poly finishes. Nitro finishes lose their 'sticky' feeling after a few months of regular use (or less, depending on your skin, how you play and the environment the guitar is kept in).

It is really not smart to scuff, sand or in any way reduce the finish that is already on there, as it is already very thin.

As for the body finish, it's not supposed to have any kind of thick, high-gloss coat. The Tributes have a thinner and more matte coat than most Gibsons and even the glossiest Gibsons have a more matte and thinner finish than Epiphones. That's the whole point. A lot of the cost of a Gibson is in the time it takes to do those ultra-thin finishes. They're also why Gibsons tend to have a brighter and more responsive tone than Epiphones. You could shoot some gloss nitro over the top of it if you really want, but this won't protect the guitar any further, it will take months to do, it will be expensive and it will require stripping the guitar down to begin with.

Basically, Gibsons are not for people who want a flashy, thick, full-gloss finish and the dark tone that comes with that. That is the realm of Epiphone Elite/Elitist, PRS Singlecut/245 and ESP Eclipse CTM guitars. Half the point of a Gibson is the finish and the feel, tone and even smell of it.

Stick with it. In a couple of months it will no longer feel sticky and you won't care about dinging the top. Take a look at what happens to nitro finishes after ten years or so, a couple of dings now is nothing.

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